Where did we go,one would wonder...

We are sick of winter. That is the truth. Tanner prays every night that the snow will melt everyday. It did. Until it snowed again. Ugh. So we have been hanging out...

Kate is protesting winter by wearing her swimming suit at least 3 times a week...

and reading to her dolls...

and talking, a lot, even though I only sometimes know what she is talking about...

Tanner is into self portraits...

And writing recipes for me. This is for macaroni and cheese, it says noodles, cheese, and milk. He even clipped it into my cookbook for easy access.

He also has been making instructions and building from those instructions...

It starts at the bottom, but it says step A: a circle, B: a large rectangle, C: a medium rectangle, D: a small rectangle, E: a long, narrow rectangle... It built a tank, he is holding the one he built.

We have been doing more stuff, perhaps I will get around to posting about it, but don't get your hopes up... I may not. But until I attend to this little blog again, I hope spring shows up! Have a good one, and thanks for stopping by!

A test to get into kindergarten...

So I took Tanner to the ghetto the other day to be screened for kindergarten. Fortunately he passed, he nearly doubled the score to get in, so that was a relief. Now we are just waiting to see where he goes. We are hoping he can get into the same school and class as his buddy. He apparently can't rhyme and he didn't know where his ankle was. So, I guess there won't be any rapping in his future, and we need to start singing Head, Shoulders, Knees, Ankles, and Toes. Oh well, he is so excited to go to school, he misses it. I just can't believe he is going to start school, this is the end of my life not worrying about school schedules, aside from Cory's, so I guess maybe I will never have a break from school schedules. Oh well, someday...

A little bored now that it snowed again...

So I googled my name. Apparently the popularity of it is rising, I wish it wouldn't... at least there is still only 4.27 per million named Kinley. But I am not sure if this counts the people that spelled it wrong... (wink wink Brendi and Dawna).

KINLEY is the most popular 14132.nd name in USA (... 14130.borromeo , 14131.kranthi , 14132.kinley , 14133.mehrunnisa , 14134.chinniah ...). One in every 234,068 Americans is named KINLEY and popularity of name KINLEY is 4.27 people per million.
If we compare the popularity statistics of KINLEY to USA's population statistics, we can estimate that as of February.21.2011 14:19 there are 1,330 people named as KINLEY in the United States and the number is increasing by 11 people every year.
Usage of kinley as a middle name is more common than its usage as a first name. The sum of alphabetical order of letters in KINLEY is 76 and this makes KINLEY arithmetic buddies with words like Decisive, Sharing, Smiler, Valuable, Esteemed. Add "Courtesy of PokeMyName.com' tag and feel free to distribute, copy, republish this interesting, accurate and also useless report about name KINLEY. :)

Check yours out.

I Heart You...

Well, most of you. But chances are, if you are reading this, I do heart you. So please have a lovely and splendid Valentines Day!

The Minnesota Zoo

We checked tickets out of the library to the Minnesota Zoo, so Alisha and I went. We saw all kinds of animals, half of it was closed because of winter, but there was still plenty to see. We started with the Minnesota trail, it is a nice little walk through all the wildlife you would find in Minnesota. Here is a taste of it...

coyotes...

bald eagles...

and some of the nastiest fish I have ever seen. (it really is no wonder that I don't care for being in fish infested water.)

Then we walked the tropical path...

Here we saw alligators...
Monkeys...

I mean monkeys... (sorry my bad)

and a large fish aquarium... (please note Grace and Kate)

Then we ended our trip at the ocean stuff...

dolphins (hard to tell, I know, they were just so excited to see us that they wouldn't hold still.)
BIG sharks... (another reason for the water phobia)

Some pretty awesome sea horses...And Tanner was trying desperately to touch the sting rays, but not the leopard sharks in the small pool. He finally succeeded.

Happy Valentines day soon, Happy Birthday to Morgan and Jennie this week! And, it will be above freezing for the next week! Goodbye to some of this snow! Have a nice weekend!

Kate's Birthday Party

My baby had her first birthday party, I know, it was almost two weeks ago... Tanner was so excited, he helped me blow up balloons and plaster the walls with flowers. It was fun, we had a few little girls over and wore princess crowns, decorated cupcakes, and played. We also munched on her favorite snacks... applesauce, animal crackers, goldfish, nilla waffers, yogurts, fruit snacks, and juice boxes.

Her Nana and Grandma gave her this little kitchen... both kids love it. Tanner gave her some cute little pots and pans (even though she got some for Christmas from Grandma, and the kitchen came with some... needless to say, we have lots of pots and pans. At least it is one less things for kids to fight over.)

We gave her friends these sunglasses in their thanks-for-coming-to-the-party goody bags. She loves them.

Tanner even got in on the goods. A package arrived from Nana after the party that had goodies for everyone.

Kate blowing out her candles...

And just because she is cute and I need to capture it...

I apologize for not being caught up on all of our adventures, but I will get around to it... just hang in there... in the mean time, have a nice day and pray for warmth.

Dear Grandma and Dear Sam...

Happy Birthday the other day Grandma! You are the greatest grandma these kids could ask for! And the nicest mother and mother-in-law ever. We love you! and miss you too!

Love, Us

and Sam,

Happy Birthday to you too! You are my favorite brother, just don't tell Andy. Actually, don't mention it at all, because he kinda thinks the same thing. Congratulations on getting older, I find that it is the easiest thing that life asks of you. So I hope the next year is kind to you and that you find yourself another year older when February comes around again.

Love, Us
p.s. Thanks for being a great uncle to these yahoos!